Carl Whitaker, MD

Carl Whitaker, MD, (1912-1995) was a physician and pioneering family therapist credited for the co-development of the symbolic-experiential approach to therapy and the use of co-therapy. Known for his charm and charismatic manner, he was one of the most powerful voices in shaping the practice of family therapy as it began to develop in the 1960s. Often provocative in his teaching, he told one interviewer, “Every marriage is a battle between two families struggling to reproduce themselves.”

Starting in 1946, Whitaker served as chairman of the department of psychiatry at Emory University, where he focused on treating schizophrenics and their families. He became a professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1965 until his retirement in 1982. During his tenure there, he refined and articulated his ideas about psychotherapy, which he coined symbolic-experiential family therapy, and his national influence on the emerging field grew stronger. His book The Family Crucible, written with Dr. Augustus Napier in 1978, continues to be a highly influential work in the field.